About a year ago some friends and I had an idea of having an abs contest. It was simple: whoever had the nicest looking abs after a period of six months is the winner. The wager: $100 per person, winner take all. However, none of us were willing or able to commit to such a feat last year and the contest fizzled out.
But things change! Six months ago we decided to bring it back and commit to the contest. We all had 6 months to whip ourselves into shape and chisel our midsections to resemble that of a Greek god's. Agreements made, wager set, it was on! And next week Saturday, June 30 marks the culmination of our journey. Here's how it's been for me so far.
My competition includes a guy a few
years younger than me. His metabolism is higher than mine and he's
naturally slim. He was the favorite in the competition from the
start. Next is an endurance athlete. If it was a performance-based
competition he would be the clear favorite, but alas the competition
is judged on looks only. As for myself, I was in decent shape for a
pudgy guy. I had some work to do.
Let's start with my strategy. As
mentioned, pudgy guy...that's me. My core is strong, there's muscle
under there, really. I was heavy into Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu which
builds a lot of core strength. So my focus wasn't going to be on
strengthening but rather on weight-loss, well fat-loss to be more
specific.
The other half of my strategy: sabotage
the competition. Still hungry? Finish the rest of my food. Hey
let's get dessert, and you can try some of mine...and try it some
more. Basically, influence bad, fattening, unhealthy food choices
to my friends and deviously laugh inside as they eat it up. It worked
like a charm for the endurance athlete. No surprise because endurance
athletes normally have a high calorie intake due to their
training...and this guy just loves to eat. I remember one time I
bought some nachos to “share” and I let him eat the entire thing
– deviously snickering inside. The young guy didn't fall for it at
all. In fact he turned it against me a few times when we would get a
dessert and I'd end up eating cake and ice cream while he just had a
small scoop of ice cream...hey, I gotta bad sweet tooth.
Now you may be thinking what a
horrible strategy. Two things.
1) it's a competition and there were no rules set against it. 2) I
told them up front from day one that this was part of my plan so
watch out. It's legal, they were warned, so game on!
Okay,
back to the fat-loss. For the first couple months of the competition
I really didn't do too much working out. Illness and injury kept me
inactive for a while (if you've read some of my previous blogs about
training for the Great Aloha Run, you know all about it). I knew I
needed to do something serious to catch up to the young guy. So I did
the Insanity workout (I have blogs all about that too). I followed
the whole workout schedule and nutrition plan for two months. It
worked well. I slimmed down and gained some definition in my
midsection along with everywhere else. At one point my love-handles
almost disappeared.
It
seemed like I was on my way to becoming the new favorite to win the
contest but Insanity ended about a month ago. Things declined a bit
since then. I still worked out, just not as much, and honestly no
workout quite compared to Insanity. I still maintained a healthy diet
but it wasn't as disciplined. Before I knew it I saw signs of
pudgyness emerging. I needed to get back on it.
Luckily
the UFC Gym opened up. They have fitness classes that push the
intensity the way Insanity did. I can weight-lift or jump on a cardio
machine, or both...I usually do both. The only thing about it, the
young guy also joined the gym. I'm not complaining, heck I brought
him into the gym, it's just going to make it that much harder to out
work him now. As for the endurance athlete, he had vanished for a
while and was doing his own thing. Made me a little nervous because
he may have some triathlete trick to trimming down. But I wasn't too
nervous because I felt I had done enough damage sabotaging his diet.
There is one week left until judgment day. My plan until next week is to maintain a healthy diet (whole grains, protein, and vegetables), keep hydrated, and get to the gym every day. I'm signed up for several fitness classes at the UFC gym throughout the week. In the past two weeks I've lost about 5 lbs so I aim to lose a couple more this week.
Stepping back from the whole competitive mindset, this competition has led to several beneficial lifestyle changes. The biggest one for me is the change in my diet. Vegetables are a regular thing now, I don't eat as much sugar and desserts, my breads and pastas are all whole grain, and I'm mindful of portion sizes – which is a freakin miracle! Doing Insanity boosted my fitness to a whole new level. A 4 mile run feels like a warm up. My recovery time between exercises is pretty quick. If I do an exercise to the point of exhaustion, a couple deep breaths is all I need to get back in it – hmm...I wonder if my idea of exhaustion is accurate.
So I
guess all-in-all I'm saying win or lose this contest has been a good
thing. Even though the younger guy is my competition, he's a friend
first and we help each other at the gym. We've shared a few core
exercises and weight-lifting tips. The endurance athlete is also a
friend first, we've helped each other with running and swimming
training in the past and I'm sure we will again in the future. But
don't get me wrong, I still want to win this contest and I am making
a final push this week to do so.
I'll write another blog next week about the contest results...might even try to get a few pictures. Be sure to check back :)
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